Alec Baldwin's next major film project, 'Rise of the Guardians,' hits theaters on Wednesday. / Brad Trent for USA WEEKEND

by Donna Freydkin, USA TODAY

by Donna Freydkin, USA TODAY

NEW YORK â?? Alec Baldwin's voice is the auditory equivalent of hot chocolate.

Soothing, delicious, a bit soporific.

Even today, when he's a little hoarse, his manner of speaking is mellifluous. Tell him that he's probably heard this before, and Baldwin shrugs, smiles.

"I never really think about it," he says.

His award-winning, career-resurrecting stint on 30 Rock and headline-worthy antics aside (Words with Friends and American Airlines, anyone?), Baldwin is at least as known for his phonetic proficiency as his on-screen work. He hosts public radio's Here's the Thing specials and New York Philharmonic This Week broadcasts. And he voices the most iconic of all the holiday notables, Santa Claus himself, in the animated film Rise of the Guardians, opening Wednesday.

"Alec knows his voice like a concert violinist knows his Stradivarius. He can get so much variation from his voice," says director Peter Ramsey. "We wanted him to do it because our version of Santa is kind of a wild man. We wanted unpredictability and an impish sense of humor. Alec really has that. He can go into a squeaky voice. He's extremely playful. And yet he's an imposing guy when you meet him. I thought he was perfect for this warrior with a heart of gold."

In every sense, the film represents a tipping point of sorts for Baldwin. His NBC show is in its final season. And he views Guardians as a chance to connect with a younger generation.

"I started doing the TV show in 2006 right after my 48th birthday. Now I'm 54 years old. That's six years, a long time in my life," he says. "Now I'm doing a children's movie that's going to reach out to a whole new audience. You realize that these movies, the children's audience, is in many respects the audience. This movie is a good movie. I really like it."

His life, too, is in a good place, following years of headline-making turbulence. There was the ugly divorce from actress Kim Basinger. The even uglier custody battle over daughter Ireland, now 17, culminating in the voicemail heard around the world. But 30 Rock was a game-changer for Baldwin, giving him stability, clout and renewed relevance. This year, Baldwin married yoga instructor Hilaria Thomas, and in the spring, he returns to Broadway inOrphans.

"I'm in a weird spot. I think in terms of what I want to do, I'm figuring it out. The television show, in terms of lifestyle, was a real harbor for me at a time when I needed something more familiar and simple. I'd gotten divorced. I was in this really tough custody battle. I needed something to be really smooth in my life," says Baldwin. "This was the smoothest job I ever could have had, in terms of the way I was accommodated with my schedule. The TV show has been being tied up in the harbor. Now I'm going out in the open water. It's tricky. It's thrilling but tricky."

His choice to do theater again was no accident. "The play is always, I find, it's the reset button for me. When I'm coming out of something and I don't know who I am -- I've done this TV show and when it ends, you've been rolling down a hill and you have to hit the breaks. The play is the best way to go. It's therapeutic," says Baldwin.

The last time we sat down with the actor, he was promoting what would turn out to be his Oscar-nominated performance in the 2003 gambling drama The Cooler. Baldwin was, back then, tightly-wound and tense. Today, he's relaxed, confident and debonair. Unlike most actors, he doesn't have a publicist and manages his schedule himself, painstakingly reviewing what's ahead for him this Friday.

"He is really an incredibly intelligent guy with a very dry sense of humor. He's very precise. He wants to know the reasons why you do something but he ultimately delivers gladly. He wants to understand the context," says Guillermo del Toro, who produced Guardians.

Baldwin credits much of his newfound balance to his wife. Baldwin, prolific on Twitter, sends her sweet Tweets and checks his phone constantly during this interview. "I'm married and I'm happy again. Truly. I'm happy, I love my wife, I love being around her -- she's like the sunshine," he gushes.

He's also half his size, a sleek, polished version of the man formerly known as Alec Baldwin. When told that he looks good, Baldwin barks out a laugh. "I look less bad than I used to," he retorts.

Before, Baldwin would go through pints of ice cream every night after shooting 30 Rock while watching Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. His diet, he says, consisted of "sugar, sugar, sugar." Baldwin says he reconfigured his lifestyle after a doctor told him he was pre-diabetic.

"When they put it to me in terms of being ill -- I drink soy milk now -- and they said to me that your problem is that you're pre-diabetic and you're never going to lose weight until you embrace that sugar is a toxin for you, everything changed overnight. That Tuesday, I think May 12 or 13, it was over," he says. "I've eaten sugar in some fruit. I just try and eat berries. Candy, gum, mints, ice cream, cake, pie, that's all gone. I lost 35 pounds."

Even Ramsey was knocked out by having a real-life Biggest Loser on his payroll. "Over the span of our work with him, which was three years, he met his wife. And he transformed. It seems like 20 years dropped away from him. He's so quick and sharp in person. It's like he has a comedy writer living inside his pocket," says Ramsey.

Baldwin is disciplined about what he eats, but he also cheats, noshing on tortilla chips during this interview. Mostly, though, he's diligent.

"You become really knocked out by how much you want to be around people who live the way you want to live. My wife -- I'm very lucky they can't have my wife because she's mine -- is a very wise beyond her years and disciplined person. She's helped me," he says. "Food is for fuel. We try to access food that is good and that we enjoy. A lot of people go home and close the door and the person they're spending the evening with is someone who's just as challenged as they are. They have a tough time."

He's had that as well, at least when it comes to press coverage. Most stories tend to focus on Baldwin's at-times-outrageous antics, like getting booted from American Airlines for refusing to stop playing Words with Friends. What's gotten somewhat lost in the mix is his good work. Those Capital One commercials? Baldwin gave all the proceeds to charity.

"I got millions of dollars from them. These guys gave me a lot of money. I have a very tough schedule. They were very accommodating. I gave a million dollars twice to the Philharmonic and twice to NYU, and then smaller amounts to other groups. It was a great feeling and I wish I could continue. I think about what it would be like to be Bloomberg. What a great feeling to give money to people that makes a difference in their lives. I wish I could do more," he says.

Work aside, Baldwin spends his time with his wife and seeing his daughter, who lives on the West Coast with Basinger. Could he ever fathom Ireland entering the family business? Sometimes, because she's expressed interest.

"My daughter is someone, who, both of her parents are in the business. If she's out and about with her parents, it's a very vivid reaction you get from people. Her mother is as signature-looking as the Eiffel Tower. She's lived it. Right about now, she's hitting the place where she understands, through both of her parents and her associates, that it's a job," says Baldwin. "It's funny and unique and interesting. You're at your friend's house and your dad comes on TV. It's work. It's hard to get there without some degree of effort. It's impossible to stay there without some degree of effort. To stay and have some longevity for decades is a tough thing to do."